Kickers lose bid for title

By Alyssa Parker

The women's soccer team's season ended with a 3-0 loss last Thursday
to Wellesley College in the opening round of the New England Women's Eight
Conference tournament. The Engineers, who finished the regular season with
a 4-8-3 record, thus failed in their quest to repeat as NEW8 champions.

In last year's tournament,

last-seeded MIT was the upset tournament champion.

Wellesley and MIT faced very low temperatures on Thursday afternoon, but
started out strong despite the cold. The opponent kept MIT very active by
forcing the Engineers to play tough defense, particularly in covering Teppi
Hawkins, one of two Wellesley players who had been voted to the
All-Conference team.

Due to Sameera Iyengar '93's excellent coverage, Hawkins managed to get
off only a few shots, and was denied any scoring opportunity.

When it became obvious that Hawkins would not be able to contribute
directly to Wellesley's offense, teammate Liza Janssen took control. The
six-foot, one-inch forward was very aggressive and strong throughout the
whole 90 minutes of the game.

The first score came with 22 minutes left in the first half, as Janssen
buried a cross off a corner kick to give Wellesley the lead it would never
relinquish.

In response to Wellesley's attack, the Engineers continued playing hard,
but now seemed to be going to the ball and creating opportunities for
themselves. Passes were connecting and the intensity rose as a result.
Forwards Annette Lee '92 and Teresa Chieu '94 played aggressively to test
Wellesley's defense.

Wellesley managed to capitalize on a lapse in MIT's intensity as Janssen
scored her second goal with a minute left in the first half.

The second half began much like the first, yet both teams seemed to have
lost a little energy. Janssen continued to test MIT's defense, scoring her
third and final goal with 3:54 to go in the game. The shot, taken from well
outside the penalty area, was a goalkeeper's nightmare, a lofty,
upper-corner ball.

Although it could not completely shut down Wellesley's offense, MIT's
defense was solid and showed much poise and composure. Co-captains Vanessa
Feliberti '91 and Azza Idris '91, Kristin Berry '93, and Christine Coffey
'91 all had solid performances on the defensive end. Goalkeeper Meg O'Neill
'93 had a great game as well, and showed moments of brilliance in cutting
off angles and coming out to smother Wellesley attacks.

In the off-season MIT will train by playing in various indoor tournaments
throughout the winter and early spring.